Tuesday, November 3, 1998 Published at 15:24 GMT1918: The end of stalemateBy Defence Correspondent Mark Laity

The image of the western front campaign is of a trench-bound stalemate, with millions dying fighting over a few metres of mud. Sometimes it was all too true, but in 1918 it changed into an astonishing drama, with huge swathes of territory lost and won and the war's outcome being in perilous balance.

The prelude

Artillery barrages helped both the Germans and the British to advance

The year 1918 dawned on a shattered Europe after a dreadful 12 months. France's still
exhausted army had been on the edge of mutiny following huge losses; Britain's
offensives had, after a bright opening, bogged down in the Passchendaele mud;
Germany had been bled white halting Allied attacks.

But Germany knew its own resources were declining irreversibly, while America's
entry into the war would strengthen the Allies. In a desperate last throw Germany launched a series of offensives to win the war before the Allies became too strong.

They carefully applied the lessons of previous years. For instance large numbers
of specially trained stormtroopers were used to infiltrate Allied positions, so
there were no lines of soldiers to machine gun down, and more importantly the
Germans orchestrated the war's most devastating artillery bombardment.

The German assault

On 21 March they launched Operation Michael against the British. Instead of days
of artillery preparation, as before in the war, there was a five-hour storm of
highly accurate fire from 6,000 guns, that surprised and devastated their
opponents. Then a million German soldiers attacked along a 50-mile front.

The British defences were not a simple line of trenches, but used "defence in
depth" with a whole series of positions to gradually slow the Germans down, like
a shock absorber. However many British units were undermanned and overstretched.
With their defences destroyed by artillery, heavy fog added to the confusion of
the shocked survivors who were quickly overwhelmed.

The Germans advanced 40 miles, a previously unheard of figure, but gradually the
British forces, fighting with desperate courage, slowed them. Finally, with
their supply lines overstretched the exhausted Germans ran out of steam, having
lost many of their best troops.

Then the Germans quickly followed up with further massive offensives against the
British and French, Operations Georgette and Blucher on 9 April and 27 May. With
real fears the war could be lost the British commander, General Douglas Haig
issued a special order concluding: "With our backs to the wall and believing in
the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end."

But these attacks, despite early success, finally petered out in late June, and
although the Germans had gained ground it was at a fatal price, and the entry of
US troops into active fighting symbolised the German race against time had been
lost.

The Allies reply

Tanks played a key part in the British victory of 1918

Within a month, from mid-July, the battered Allies, sensing the tide's turn
started the offensives that won the war. Success was so unexpected it was hard
to stop planners preparing for war in 1919.

On 8 August the British, supported by the French, launched a remarkable surprise
attack that showed they too had learnt the lessons of previous campaigns. Masses
of troops were moved secretly to attack on the heels of a large-scale tank
assault, backed by an artillery barrage as devastating as anything the Germans
had managed.

The German commander, General Ludendorff wrote: "August 8 was the black day of
the German Army. Our war machine was no longer efficient."

It was recognition
his army had not just been thrown back, but many soldiers had quickly
surrendered or run, indicating a declining will to fight.

But while the Germans were fading they could still fight hard using formidable
prepared defences like the Hindenberg Line. Nevertheless, at great cost the
Allied advance was steady, with British assaults often led by Canadian or
Australian forces, who were regarded as elite attacking troops. By the Armistice
the Allies had advanced up to 50 miles

The lessons

The campaign of 1918, often overlooked compared to other campaigns such as the Somme, helps give
a more balanced perspective on the war.

The same British generals, so often
labelled "donkeys" because of previous failures, commanded the final offensives
with considerable competence. The events of 1918 also suggest the bloody stalemate of
previous years was mostly inevitable because the technology and training needed
for this new kind of warfare was still developing.

It also has to be asked if the 1918 victory could have happened without the war
of attrition that wore the Germans down.

Casualty figures tell their own story
about this most terrible war. The victorious British advance in 1918 created a
higher daily casualty rate than the 1916 Somme campaign, while the German success of 12 March produced 40,000 dead, wounded and missing - about the same as their defeated opponents.

It was in despair that the French General
Charles Mangin wrote: "Whatever you do, you lose a lot of men."